ENGL 151 - English I
“Writing is the supreme solace.” W. Somerset Maugham
Instructor: Mr. Jack Kelnhofer
E-Mail: jack_kelnhofer@portal.ocean.edu
Fall 2012
Room: Russell Building,
Room 208
Class Schedule: Wednesdays 8:00 AM – 10:40 AM
Office: 221 Russell Building
Required Texts:


Muller, G. The McGraw-Hill Reader: Issues across the Disciplines 11th ed. New York:
McGraw-Hill, 2011. Print.
Hacker, Diana. Rules for Writers. 6th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009. Print.
Other Materials:
 A two-pocket folder for submission of papers
 A USB storage device (jump drive)
 A notebook
Course Description:
Students will compose and revise expository essays totaling 3500 words, minimum.
Through a series of primarily text-based writing assignments, the course reinforces and
stresses the further development of critical reading and thinking, the writing process, and
information literacy. In writing argumentation essays, students engage in ethical
reasoning as they formulate judgments based on fact and inference.
About the Course:
This semester we will be working to improve our writing by focusing on fostering each
paper’s theme, development, and organization. To accomplish this we will concentrate
on the five steps of process writing—prewriting, drafting, revising, editing and publishing
your essays.
Course Goals and Learning Objectives
After completion of this course students will be able to:
 Identify and focus an appropriate essay topic
 Develop assertions with supporting detail
 Build coherent paragraphs
 Create a functional essay structure
 Respond critically to source readings
 Synthesize information from source readings
 Conduct research honestly and skillfully
 Use accurate MLA documentation
 Observe grammatical conventions
 Speak purposefully and articulately
 Listen actively and sensitively
Course Requirements and Concerns
 Any software program you use at home MUST BE compatible with campus
standards. Check with staff in Information Technology office during the first
week of classes if you are not sure.
 Ocean Cruiser is the official email communication for students at OCC
(firstname_lastname@occ.mailcruiser.com). All email communication to the
professor must be through your Ocean Cruiser email account. E-mails
received from non-College accounts may not be read.
Policies and Procedures:
Plagiarism:
Plagiarism is the use of another writer’s words or ideas without disclosure of the source.
All essays and papers submitted by students for credit in English courses at Ocean
County College must make honest and full disclosure of any sources used, including but
not limited to books, print articles, films, and other media, the Internet, and professional
or non-professional co-writers. Failure to make full disclosure of sources will subject
students to penalties prescribed by Plagiarism policy # 5180. See the current student
handbook-planner, Time Well Spent, for the complete text of the policy.
Absence and Lateness: Class participation and preparedness are essential components to
any course. Students that miss classes will significantly lower their grade. It is not
necessary to inform me of expected absences in advance. Missing one to three classes
will lower your participation grade; missing four to six classes will lower your final grade
for the course a full letter grade; missing seven or more classes will result in failure of the
course.
Habitual lateness will be reflected in lowered participation grades or, in egregious
instances, counted as an absence.
Late Assignment Policy: Submitting papers by or before the assigned due date is an
essential element in ensuring student understanding of the concepts covered. The final
grade for each essay assignment will be lowered 10 points for each class beyond the
deadline for submission. Please make certain to inform me if an assignment is going to
be late.
Civility and Classroom Conduct
Please turn off all cell phones before class begins.
Be aware that during class discussions you are responsible to conduct yourself in a
professional and academic manner. Your means of communicating to each other thoughts
and suggestions for improving work will be part of your class participation grade.
Please review and adhere to the College’s civility policy at www.ocean.edu/civility.htm
Grading:
Assignments
Participation and Attendance
Paper 1 (1000 words)
Paper 2 (1,000 words)
Paper 3 (1,000 words)
Research Paper (1200 words)
Presentation
10%
10 %
10%
15%
20%
25%
10%
The second draft and third draft of each essay assignment will be graded; the final grade
for each assignment will be the average of both grades.
Grade Standards
A
B+
B
C+
C
D
F
P
I
Excellent
Very Good
Good
Above Average
Average
Pass Below Average
Failure
Passing
Incomplete
90-100 Percent
85-89 Percent
80-84 Percent
75-79 Percent
70-74 Percent
65-69 Percent
64 or Below
4 Quality Points
3.5 Quality Points
3 Quality Points
2.5 Quality Points
2 Quality Points
1 Quality Point
0 Quality Points
n/a
Essay Assignments:
There will be FOUR essays written for this course. Each essay will be developed through
a series of drafts. ALL work must be turned in on assigned dates. ALL essays must be
submitted to pass this course.
Essay Specifications:
All essays must be submitted in hard copy (printed out) on 8.5”x11” white paper. Essays
should be double-spaced, using 1” margins left and right, (aligned left and ragged right),
and 1” margins top and bottom. You should use 12 point Times New Roman font.
Papers should be stapled (not clipped) and meet Modern Language Association (MLA)
format standards.
Resources
Campus Resources and Services:
Tutoring is available [a] in the Writing Center for writing assignments in all subject
areas, not just English courses, and [b] in the Mathematics Tutoring Center. Tutoring
information for all other subjects can be found on the Tutoring page on the college
website. In addition, Study Strategy Seminars are scheduled each week and are posted
on the college website under “Academics.” More information on college services can be
found by using the A-Z index on the college website (for example, under “T” for
Tutoring or under “S” for Study Strategy Seminars).
Purdue’s Online Writing Lab:
This website (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/) offers many online tutorials,
handouts, and study materials.
Statement of Accommodation: If there is any student in this class who has special
needs because of learning disabilities or other kinds of disabilities, please feel free to
come and discuss this with me or a staff member in the Center for Academic Excellence.
Disclaimer: Individual faculty members may make reasonable changes to this course
outline exclusive of course requirements, course calendar, and grading procedures.
All individuals should not assume that anything received, sent, or stored in this course or
in any course is private. Students’ written work, assignments, and test results may be
used anonymously for college assessment purposes. Course content, support materials,
and communications (including chats, discussions, emails, and any other forms of
communication) may be used for quality assurance purposes by authorized college
administrators.
Important Notes
Ocean Cruiser is the official email communication for students at OCC
(firstname_lastname@occ.mailcruiser.com)
Failure to pay for this course may result in your being dropped for non-payment.
Schedule of Assignments (Subject to change):
Readings will be discussed on the day of class. Thusly all assigned reading must be
complete BEFORE class.
January 25:
 Welcome!
 First Essay (close reading essay) assigned; see below:
Assignment: For the first paper of the semester we will undertake a close reading
of two important works and analyze how they compare with each other. Please
read in The McGraw-Hill Reader pages 396 - 409. Be sure to attentively read
each passage and consider the author’s meaning very carefully. This essay will
address question 1 on page 409 of “Synthesis: Classic and Contemporary
Questions for Comparison.” The first draft will be due the following week.
 Diagnostic Essay.
 Review Basics, (chapter 62 pages 529-542) in Rules for Writers. NOTE: Basics is
an important review area for students but the materials covered should be already
well known to college students.
 Read The McGraw-Hill Reader pages 396 - 409. Discussion on these texts to
follow.
February 1:
 First Draft of Paper # 1 Due
 Read Rules for Writers pages 1-20.
 Read The McGraw-Hill Reader pages 2-7.
 Review mechanics, (chapter 40 through 45, pages 317-344) in Rules for Writers.
 Read Rules for Writers pages 20-39
 Review grammatical rules for sentence fragments, run-on sentences, and subjectverb agreement (chapter 19, 20 and 21, pages 148-175) in Rules for Writers.
 Review Basics, (chapter 63 pages 542-552) in Rules for Writers. NOTE: Basics is
an important review area for students but the materials covered should be already
well known to college students
February 8:
 Read Rules for Writers pages 31-39.
 Review punctuation rules, (chapter 32 through 39, pages 269-317) in Rules for
Writers.
 Read The McGraw-Hill Reader (“From Ancient Greece to Iraq, the Power of
Words in Wartime,” “Engaging in Critical Reading” and “How to Mark a Book,”)
pages 7-9 and 12-17.
 Assignment: Write a response to the following:
Lakoff’s point seems to be that language can be part of a process of separation
and division. Think of a word like the ones used in the essay and discuss how it
used to divide and separate people today. Your response should be more than 250
words and will be collected.



Review grammatical rules for pronoun-antecedent agreement, pronoun reference,
pronoun case, who and whom, (chapter 22, 23, 24, and 25 pages 175-197) in
Rules for Writers.
Read Rules for Writers pages 40-57.
Review Basics, (chapter 64 pages 552-561) in Rules for Writers. NOTE: Basics is
an important review area for students but the materials covered should be already
well known to college students
February 15:
 Second Draft of Paper #1 Due
 Assignment: Second Essay (Proposing a Solution) assigned.
 Review Rules for Writers pages 59-70.
 Review grammatical rules for Adjectives and adverbs and Standard English verb
forms, tenses, and moods, (chapter 26 and 27 pages 197-223) in Rules for Writers.
 Read The McGraw-Hill Reader pages 44-66.
 Read The McGraw-Hill Reader (“Mother Tongue,” and “Sex, Lies, and
Conversation: Why is it so Hard for Men and Women to Talk to Each Other,”)
pages 76-81 and 100-105.
 Review Academic Writing, (chapter 46 through 48, pages 345-380) in Rules for
Writers. Tone is very important. Be sure to read carefully.
 Read The McGraw-Hill Reader (“Revising,”) pages 69-71.
 Read The McGraw-Hill Reader pages 120-135.
 Review Basics, (chapter 65 pages 561-564) in Rules for Writers. NOTE: Basics is
an important review area for students but the materials covered should be already
well known to college students
 Assignment: Lincoln’s speech at Gettysburg is one of the most powerful political
addresses available. As question four of “Rhetoric” (page 134) points out,
Lincoln avoids the mentioning the divided sides. Consider, again, how Lakoff’s
essay on page 7 treats language as a part of war now that you we’ve read how
Lincoln. What are the reasons Lincoln omits mentioning the combatants? Why
does he focus on the ideological issues?
Your response should be more than 250 words and will be collected.
February 22:
 Final Draft of Paper #1 Due.
 First Draft of Paper # 2 Due.
 Read Research in Rules for Writers pages 381-411.
 Read The McGraw-Hill Reader pages 135-147.
 Review clarity section on active verbs, parallel ideas, needed words, mixed
constructions and misplaced and dangling modifiers, (chapters 8 through 12,
pages 79-104) in Rules for Writers.
February 29:
 Read writing MLA papers in Rules for Writers pages 411-476
 Scan the MLA formatted essay pages 71 and 72 in Rules for Writers.
 Read The McGraw-Hill Reader (Chapter 4) 166-190.
 Note: The McGraw-Hill Reader lists MLA documentation style on pages 191217.
 Review clarity section on shifts, emphasis, variety, wordy sentences, appropriate
language and exact words, (chapters 13 through 18, pages 104-146) in Rules for
Writers.
 Read The McGraw-Hill Reader (“Do I Really Have to Join Twitter,” “In Defense
of Twitter,” “Social Sites are Becoming too Much of a Good Thing,” and “Oh,
What a Tangled Online Dating Web We Weave,”) pages 148-157.
March 7:
 Second Draft of Paper # 2 Due.
 Third essay (Case Study Essay) assigned.
 Read The McGraw-Hill Reader (“Research Project Casebook: Working with
Sources Across Media,”) pages 218-252. This casebook is designed to be an
example of how to use your sources to create an argument.
 Read The McGraw-Hill Reader, chapter 10, pages 508-533.
 Assignment: Stephen King is one of our most successful commercial novelists.
Please read, consider, and respond to question 4 from the “Comprehension”
section of page 532.
Your response should be more than 250 words and will be collected.
March 14:
 Spring Break. No classes held.
March 21:
 Final Draft of Paper # 2 Due.
 First Draft of Paper # 3 Due.
 Read The McGraw-Hill Reader chapter 5, pages 254-278.
 Peer review workshop.
March 28:
 Read The McGraw-Hill Reader chapter 6, pages 294-335.
 Peer review workshop.
April 4:
 Second Draft of Paper # 3 Due.
 Proposal for Research Paper Due.
 Read The McGraw-Hill Reader chapter 7, pages 348-369.
 Library Skills Workshop
April 11:
 Conferences: Group A, B, and C
 Annotated Source List Due. Revised Proposal Due.
April 18:
 First Draft of Research Paper Due.
 Final Draft of Paper # 3 Due.
 Peer review workshop.
April 25:
 Read The McGraw-Hill Reader chapter 11, pages 570-597.
 Peer review workshop.
May 2




Second Draft of Research Paper Due
Read The McGraw-Hill Reader chapter 12, pages 624-659.:
Presentation skills workshop and peer review.
Presentation: Group A
May 9:
 Final Draft of Research Paper Due.
 Presentation: Group B
 Presentation: Group C